Developer Lincoln Property Co. is buying both sides of Gaston Avenue at Garland Road near White Rock Lake for a major retail center.

The shopping center project will include redeveloping the property now occupied by the East Dallas YMCA, along with the two-story shopping center across the street.

The project is close to 15 acres, making it one of the largest such developments on tap for East Dallas.

“We are looking at a big retail center,” said Lincoln Property executive vice president Robert Dozier. “This is one of the best potential development sites in the city.”

Lincoln Property bought the Lakeview Centre at the southwest corner of Gaston and Garland Road where East Grand Avenue intersects. Built in 1987, the 82,000-square-foot shopping center is mostly vacant.

A few years ago, builders proposed tearing down the retail complex to replace it with new mixed-use construction.

But Dozier said Lincoln plans to remodel the property and will keep it as a shopping center.

Across the street, Lincoln is under contract to buy the YMCA’s 46,000-square-foot building and the adjoining space used for a nightclub.

The YMCA is working on plans for a new facility up the street at Gaston and Loving Street.

The redevelopment of the two corners will be a big step toward community leaders’ longtime goal of upgrading the intersection as a “gateway” to the east side of White Rock Lake. The Dallas Arboretum and popular residential areas are just north of the busy corner.

“We are excited and working with the city on this project,” Dozier said.

The property purchases come less than a year after Lincoln acquired the largest portion of East Dallas’ historic Lakewood shopping center at Gaston and Abrams Road.

The developer is still working on remodeling plans for those Lakewood buildings, which have almost 60,000 square feet of space.

For the new project at Garland Road, Dozier said his firm is looking at potential tenants, including a supermarket.

“This center will be able to handle the tenants we can’t accommodate at Lakewood,” he said.

Despite the large number of residents in the area, there are relatively few supermarkets and other large national retailers along Gaston Avenue near White Rock.

“There is so little retail space in that market that there will be strong demand for a new project,” said Steve Lieberman, CEO of the Retail Connection, one of Texas’ largest retail real estate firms.